We are now ready to begin our exploration of the world famous Virgin
Islands. Our story begins in the BVI where after visiting Virgin Gorda,
we will sail up to Anegada, closely resembling Barbuda. From there,
we will head to Tortola, and then finally Jost Van Dyke.
Following the British isles, we will sail to the American side, where
we'll stop in Charlotte Amalie, St.Thomas for some shopping. The islands
of St.John and St.Croix [not on the map] will only be visited later
on our way back from the Spanish isles.
The Virgin Islands are one of the prettiest of the Caribbean chain,
and we are glad we have had the chance to stop by. We hope you will
enjoy what we have prepared, and that it will entice you to visit
them sometime.
January 30th, 2000
Following our long Christmas
break, we sailed overnight towards the British
Virgin Islands through the Anegada passage. At dawn, we
arrived to Virgin Gorda, greeted by a huge storm that
lashed us with 40+ knots winds and blinding rain. Exhausted,
we stopped in Gorda Sound, and fell asleep. The next day,
we sailed down to the south side of the island to the
reknown Baths, where huge granite rock boulders
create an impressive landscape.
Virgin Gorda: a gem of the Caribbean!
Since our arrival to the Virgin Islands, the winds have
been steady 15-25 knots every day, thus excellent for
windsurfing.
For this reason, we soon headed back to Gorda Sound where
we found an amazing windsurfing location adjacent to the
Bitter
End Yacht Club. This beautiful water sports resort
is located in a part of the island only accessible by
boat or water taxi. We set anchor in Eustasia Sound, surrounded
by coral reefs that protected us from the open ocean waves,
and set up two anchors in a V-pattern to ensure we don't
drift into a shoal when the wind direction changes.
Bitter End Yacht
Club, British Virgin Islands
Above you can see some images of the Bitter End Yacht
Club. We spent quite a few days here windsurfing, or just
enjoying the scenery. As you see, some rather large cruise
ships [such as the Star Clipper from Luxembourg] come
by this magnificient area. From a windsurfing and kitesurfing
standpoint, the setting is perfect. One huge lagoon for
flatwater sailing, and numerous passes between the coral
reefs through which one can access the open ocean, and
possibly sail all the way to Anegada, just like in the
HIHO windsurfing contest. By the way, for those of you
who thought the Virgin Islands were only slalom sailing,
think again! The north side of Anegada is known to have
large breaking swells that would please any serious wave
sailor...
In Bitter End, we met several windsurfers, among them;
Ed and Nathalie, originally from Montréal, but
having lived on their sailboat Fancy Free for over
5 years, cruising the Caribbean from Florida to Venezuela.
Their parrot BoB was one crazy bird we will not forget
about. We also met Chad, a windsurfer who worked at the
sailing club. He lended me a wide-angle IR lens for my
camera with which I managed to take some pretty impressive
shots of the sailboat we normally could not have done.
Now I need to purchase one for myself...
Soon enough, it was time to move again. After having spent
a week in Bitter End with a quick visit to Anegada's Horseshoe
Reef, we sailed back to the marina in Spanish Town for
some grocery shopping and to take a few pictures of the
Club Med I sailboat that was passing by.
The Club Med is one of the largest cruiseliner- sailboats
in the world that spends winters in the Caribbean and
summers in French Polynesia. It's sleek look contrasts
sharply with the modern factory style cruise liners one
is used to seeing.
February 10, 2000
We arrived to the island of Jost Van Dyke after having
circled around Tortola through the Sir Francis Drake channel.
The plan was to stop on Green Cay and relax for a while.
From there, we headed to Great Bay where we spent the
evening at the famous Foxy's Bar. Foxy's was one
of the few places we visited during this Adventure where
we have seen a decent nightlife; not bad for an island
with a population of 150 people, a couple of barking dogs,
and five sheeps... The following morning, we hiked up
Maljohnny Hill and had a spectacular view of the surrounding
islands from its rocky peak.
In our usual manner, we were soon on our way to a new
destination: the island of St.Thomas, USVI.
We arrived to its capital, Charlotte Amalie, after a hard
day sailing past the island of St.John. This busy town
has played an important role in the history of the Caribbean.
During the 18th Century, Charlotte Amalie was a Danish
free port where English, French, and other nations came
to trade their goods. The
local authority requested the ennemies to respect one
another during their stay in St.Thomas. To ensure that
law and order remained, they erected fortifications in
all strategic points of the island. These fortifications
together with several old colonial houses are still visible
today. In St.Thomas, the ancient comes in sharp contrast
with the modern hi-tech, even on the water where small
old-fashioned sailboats share the harbor with huge cruise
liners.
18th of February
We were back in Tortola to pick my brother up at the tiny
Beef Island airport, as he flew in to take a three week
break from his studies.
Since windsurfing was the most urgent issue, we headed
back to Bitter End to enjoy the pleasant scenery some
more. The wind was a little lighter than during our first
stay, but this gave him the opportunity to try out the
kiteboard. We stayed there for six days, out of which
we took a one day trip to Anegada. Then, we headed down
to Spanish Town, Jost Van Dyke, and finally St.Thomas,
to pick up Drew who will join us for the second time in
this trip.
While we're at it, let us introduce you to our super dinghy,
the Bombard AX2. Every sailboat in the Caribbean carries
a small dinghy with which people can transit from the
anchored boat to the land. Our Mini Zipo happens
to be the smallest dinghy in the whole Caribbean.
Jérôme swore to me that this was going to
be the first thing he'd get rid of when he'll get his
next paycheque. The problem with it, apart from the fact
that space in it is severely limited and the two-horsepower
engine just won't cut it, is that as soon as we step into
it we get wet. The situation is so bad that we often carry
a change of clothes to shore, or simply wear a full raingear...
This gets even worse when we carry luggage or windsurfing
equipment. I am surprised we have not flipped over with
it yet.
On the other hand, we're glad our dinghy is such a pity
because we know that nobody will even bother stealing
it. Even if they tried, they would first have to start
the engine, so really... ...we're not worried. While we
were cursing our poor Mini-Zipo, Drew finally arrived
and we made a short hop to West End, Tortola, where we
stopped in a used-to-be pirate's hangout: Soper's Hole.
Later in the day, we raised the anchor and slowly started
sailing westwards...
We are now ready to begin our exploration of the world famous Virgin
Islands. Our story begins in the BVI where after visiting Virgin Gorda,
we will sail up to Anegada, closely resembling Barbuda. From there,
we will head to Tortola, and then finally Jost Van Dyke. 
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